Spoilers and macho BS after the cut.
Chapter 646 starts off with Hirako's ugly mug. And just when you think it's going downhill from there....
Well, to be fair, it doesn't go entirely downhill. Aside from the Captain-Commander's macho bullshit (that is, taking on Lille Barro by himself when a coordinated attack from multiple captain-level shinigami would make the fight a lot easier), it's not a bad chapter. This fight is more interesting by far than Mayuri vs. Pernida.
The problem Kyouraku vs. Barro might have is that it sets too high a level for the rest of the shinigami/Ichigo/whoever vs. elite Stern Ritter fights to come.
At any rate, Kyouraku is left to his own devices by his adoring subordinates (except Nanao, apparently). He then forces Barro to open his left eye.
Previously, I thought that Barro's left eye was missing, not shut. So that's an interesting twist.
It was all too predictable that the chapter ended with a presumable pwning of Kyouraku. As we learned last chapter (again), Kyouraku is far too tricky to allow something like that to happen, even when the opponent is using Quincy: Vollstandig. It's pretty much Quincy Bankai, but I have to admit the term "Vollstandig" is more fun to type.
I have no idea how to pronounce it.
Much like with the previous fight, I have no idea how this one will end. Will Kyouraku be in fighting shape afterward? Probably not for a while. He should technically be leagues ahead of Barro and on a level with Haschwald or even Bach's first appearance. Post-absorption of Mimihagi has probably given Bach so much power that no one shinigami can handle him.
But as chapter 646 has proven to us, no matter the odds in a given fight, the shinigami will always go at it one-on-one.
